quasar energy group has proposed building an anaerobic digester at the Liverpool Wastewater Treatment Plant which could dramatically reduce the county's cost for processing sludge.
Jim Troike, Medina County's sanitary engineer, said the new system could save the county $600,000 a year in gas and electric bills required to operate the low pressure oxidation unit, which relies on high heat and pressure to stabilize the sludge.
The anaerobic digester proposed by quasar would replace that process with a system that encourages bacteria to digest the organics in the sludge and produce methane as a byproduct and energy source.
quasar officials asked county commissioners Monday to spend $50,000 to pay half the cost of a facility plan for the proposed digester. Commissioners are reviewing the proposal and could vote to authorize the expenditure Monday.
The company is aiming to complete the facility plan by the end of the month in order to qualify for federal energy stimulus funds which could pay 30 percent of the construction cost.
quasar President Mel Kurtz said the project is expected to cost $3 million to construct and could be completed in 2011.
quasar energy group is a Cleveland-based waste-to-energy company that designs, builds, owns and operates anaerobic digestion facilities using U.S. components to produce renewable energy. It has built facilities in Akron and Zanesville and in 2009 built its flagship system in the BioHio Research Park on The Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center campus in Wooster.
The quasar system in Wooster processes regional food waste and crop residuals as well as grass and manure from on-campus farm operations to produce clean, renewable energy and valuable byproducts. The system has the capacity to produce 450kW of electricity and the ability to supply one-third of the Wooster campus' energy needs.
Troike said quasar would own the digester it produces at the Liverpool treatment plant for at least five years. That is an arrangement Troike said he could live with.
"We normally do all our own engineering and construction, but this is an opportunity for us to get into a promising new technology that we could not otherwise afford right now," Troike said. "I've also known the leaders at quasar for a long time and I have confidence in their reputations in this industry."
The new technology is not only expected to reduce operating costs at the Liverpool Wastewater Treatment Plant, but offer a series of other benefits at well. Methane produced by the digester will fuel generators to provide the energy needs of other operations at the plant. The digesters also will provide a place for area restaurants and food operations to dispose of food scraps, oil and grease. No such place currently exists in the county.
Kurtz said quasar expects to recover its investment through tipping fees it will charge the county for the solid waste its facility will process and from the sale of methane. Kurtz estimated that an anaerobic digester at the Liverpool treatment plant could produce 1,000 gallons of methane a day. That methane could be used to power a fleet of vehicles equipped to burn compressed natural gas.
